Use What You’ve Got: Painting with Kool-Aid

Kool-Aid was a staple drink of my childhood, so I remember the super-sweet concoctions my sisters and I would make with fondness. But now that I’m an adult with my own family, we tend to drink a lot of water and fruit juices — almost no drink mixes. But that doesn’t mean Kool-Aid isn’t good for something.

When Walmart challenged me to come up with a Kool-Aid creation, I was genuinely stumped for a bit. The upside? There were no restrictions, so it could be a recipe, a craft — whatever. Finally, I remembered that my oldest sister used to dye her hair using Kool-Aid when we were growing up. I figured if the colors in it were strong enough to use as hair dye, they definitely had to be good enough to use as paint.

To test the theory, I sat my daughter down with a muffin pan, several packets of Kool-Aid in various colors and flavors, and a canvas. Alas, Kool-Aid really does make great paint.

We first emptied packets of Kool-Aid into the individual muffin cups. She chose flavors based on color, so she’d have as many to use as possible. Simply add 1 teaspoon of warm water to each packet. If you use more water than this, you’ll begin to dilute the colors and they’ll get lighter.

She had an awesome time painting with the best-smelling watercolor paints of all time!

Her final masterpiece:

I love it and can’t wait to find a place to hang it! We may use a blow dryer on it to help “set” the colors on the canvas, but so far, they’re holding up really well, and they still smell great.

If you’d like to make your own Kool-Aid creation, you can actually win tickets to a Big Time Rush concert near you, courtesy of Walmart and Kool-Aid! All you have to do is upload a photo whatever you — or your kids — create before August 6, and cross your fingers. Winners will receive two VIP tickets to one of the 37 BTR concerts this summer, an autographed BTR Kool-Aid t-shirt, and even a meet-and-greet and photo with the band.

But if you don’t want to enter the contest and would still like to go see a BTR concert, you can still get a discount on tickets. If you purchase $6 worth of Kool-Aid products at Walmart, you can upload a photo of your receipt to the free Shoparoo app on your smart phone or by visiting Shoparoo.com. You’ll then get a unique code that will get you four Big Time Rush tickets for just $50. You can use the code to buy the tickets at a Walmart Ticket Master kiosk, Ticket Master online or through Ticket Master phone orders.

We’ll be going to the Atlanta concert next week, and my daughter can’t wait!

DISCLOSURE: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Hey, There!

I’m Jennae Petersen, and I’m a lot of things. A wife, a mother, a graphic designer and a connosieur of beautiful things. Green Your Decor was borne of my frustration with finding beautiful things that were also eco-friendly, and inspiration to reduce my own carbon footprint and help others do the same. LEARN MORE